Louisville 57, No. 4 Rutgers 56

3/9/2008 8:19 PM

By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -Angel McCoughtry is the Big East's scoring leader, but she can also play some defense.

McCoughtry had 20 points, seven rebounds and a big strip at the end as Louisville upset No. 4 Rutgers 57-56 Sunday in the second round of the Big East tournament.

``You don't lead the league in steals if you can't defend,'' said Louisville coach Jeff Walz. ``She didn't shoot the ball extremely well, but she rebounded it, she defended and she came up with a big stop at the end.''

Candyce Bingham, who appeared to be fighting off leg cramps in the second half, added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals (23-8).

Epiphany Prince and Matee Ajavon each had 13 points for Rutgers (24-6), the defending tournament champion. Kia Vaughn had 12 points and seven rebounds, eight and five in the second half.

The game was tied at 51 with 3:31 left, and there were four lead changes before McCoughtry found Bingham underneath for the 57-56 lead with just under 33 seconds left.

Essence Carson missed a jumper with 8.1 seconds left and Chauntise Wright outbattled Vaughn for the rebound.

Rutgers got the ball back on a turnover on an inbound play with 4.4 seconds remaining. Prince dribbled up the right side of the court but McCoughtry got her hand on the ball as Prince tried a desperation shot in front of the Rutgers bench at the buzzer. Coach C. Vivian Stringer yelled for a foul call that did not come.

``Yeah I did, but I saw a couple of things before that,'' Stringer said. ``But it doesn't matter what I think.''

McCoughtry said that with two fouls to give, she was actually trying to hit Prince's arm before the shot.

``Coach said to foul and I didn't get to like I should have,'' she said. ``I can't even describe the feeling. This is going to be a memory for the rest of my life.''

Louisville played a full-court pressure defense all night, forcing the Scarlet Knights into 16 turnovers and disrupting their offensive flow. The Cardinals, who also turned the ball over 16 times, outrebounded Rutgers 34-23, including 13-6 on the offensive glass.

``The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the rebound stat,'' Stringer said. ``We made a real bad situation for ourselves.''

But Louisville had just five second-chance points, and the game was played at the Scarlet Knights' pace. Rutgers has the league's top-ranked defense, giving up just over 51 points per game. Louisville, the No. 7 seed, came in averaging more than 76 points per contest.

McCoughtry, who averages just under 24 points per game, hit just 8-of-25 shots from the field, with Carson, the conference's defensive player of the year, guarding her for much of the game.

But McCoughtry hit two big shots in a row down the stretch with defenders in her face, as she and Prince went back-and-forth giving their teams a lead.

The game had 27 lead changes, and seven ties.

Ajavon scored seven straight points to give Rutgers a 10-5 lead early, but she picked up her third foul with four minutes left in the half.

That forced the Scarlet Knights into a zone defense, and Louisville was able to crash the boards, getting 10 offensive rebounds by halftime. Rutgers went into intermission up 26-25.

The Cardinals will play West Virginia in Monday's semifinals.

Rutgers, which won the only other meeting of the season between the two schools, 70-57, had been considered a candidate for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. The ultimate goal, a national title, is still out there.

``Most importantly, we have to bounce back and look forward,'' Vaughn said.